Saturday, October 13, 2012 - Rest Day

Bad weather prevented us from riding today, so we took the opportunity to rest a little, particularly since I can’t get much work done with a cell signal. Did some writing on the blog, to be uploaded at our first opportunity.

Friday, October 12, 2012 - Cell Phone Signal Search

With no cell phone signal, and lots of work piling up, I set out to find a cell phone signal good enough to connect with the internet using my aircard. My first attempt was to go down to another camping area that one of the rangers had mentioned might have a signal and was another option to where we could camp with the horses. Unfortunately, it was another 10 miles north, and through many windy, twisty roads, and lower in elevation than we were, and, unfortunately, there was no more of a cell signal there either. Then I headed back toward camp, bypassing it to go a little higher, thinking higher altitude might help, once I crested the mountain. That didn’t help, and then the road back downhill kept going further and further into the valley, with no place to turn around, so I went miles MORE out of the way in vain. Finally found a place to turn around, headed back to camp to drop off the horse trailer so I didn’t get caught not being able to turn around again, then headed off AGAIN, this time south to the main highway, finally getting a signal just before reaching Route 30. I ducked into the state park parking lot and spent more than an hour working, emailing, etc. before finally heading back to camp, feeling like most of the day was wasted driving around. At least I got done what needed to be done!

Thursday, October 11, 2012 - Travel Day to Michaux State Forest

Got up in the dark, got everything packed up and ready to go and were pulling out just as the sun was starting to light up the tree tops, under a beautiful clear blue sky. Temps were chilly as expected, but warmed up a bit with the sun. Found a Dunkin Donuts on the way for breakfast, stopped once for fuel and again for water at a Walmart near the forest, then headed up the mountain to the forest. Had a nice chat with Pat in the office and one of the rangers about the best place to camp, and headed out to the Flat Rock parking area, a nice wide open area that was about half gravel and half grass with a nice copse of trees in the middle perfect for highlining the horses. We got them out and onto the grass immediately, they really appreciated that. We were fully set up in no time, including the satellite dish, by 5:00, and settled in for the evening. Bad news, there’s no cell phone signal at all here, so I may check out another camping area tomorrow to see if it’s any better there.

Wednesday, October 10, 2011 - Rain Day, No Ride!

Woke up to a changed forecast, now 70% rain, which it started to do as we were getting up. It didn’t start to let up until nearly 2:00, and the sun didn’t come out until 3:00, so it was too late to go for a ride, though I did take the horses for a little walk and let them graze on some fresh grass for awhile. We decided a rest day was a good idea anyway, as we have a very long drive tomorrow and need to get up at the crack of dawn tomorrow.

Tuesday, October 9, 2012 - Runaround Day in Carmel, NY

Since we didn’t have a cell phone or internet signal here, and I had to run into town to the post office and grocery store anyway, I found a wi-fi signal at Friendly’s and did some computer work. Unfortunately, what started out as an effort to get a few simple confirmations of my planned route turned into a nightmare. Everywhere I called it was No, No, No! Even publicly designated Pa Game Land prohibited overnight camping of any kind! I never heard of such a thing! Anyway, I ended up spending hours there trying to solve the problem, and in the end, didn’t really solve it, except to find one tiny spot along the side of a highway that didn’t have any trails. Time to rethink the whole thing, so I came back to camp frustrated that it was now too late to ride, and we had more logistics problems than we had before I went to town. After considerable discussion, and a slew of alternatives, we finally settled on driving straight through to the Michaux State Forest (if it could be confirmed, though all indications are they welcome horse camping-I even had previously downloaded a brochure about it), which is just a little west of Gettysburg. There are no fees, though no facilities, but knowing that, we can arrive prepared. Too late to ride, so we just settled in, though I had several conversations with the two hunters that keep coming back, Nick and Dominic. Dominic even brought a couple of ladies who live nearby and have horses to visit with us, so we had a nice chat for a while. He also gave us some apples, a loaf of hefty bread, which we discovered later with soup was a nic sun-dried tomato bread, and a bag of nice Italian rolls, very thoughtful of them. Forecast calls for just a 20-30 percent chance of rain for tomorrow, hope it doesn’t, I’d sure like to get at least ONE ride in while we’re here!

Monday, October 8, 2012 - Travel Day to Ninham Mountain near Carmel, NY

 After many phone calls and inquiries in the last 10 days, I managed to find a nice ranger from the DEC at Ninham Mountain, who, although they don’t really have camping here, was will to let us park in their parking lot for a few days. It was a fairly short drive, but we made several stops along the way, including dumping at a rest area in CT, one of the few states that provides RV dumps in their rest areas, thank goodness. We arrived around 3:00, discovering that the parking lot is pretty small, but suitable enough for us to set up and still leave plenty of room for the day users, of which it turned out to be many. A fairly regular stream of mountain bikers, joggers and a couple of hunters kept us in constant contact with the outside world. We were also right by the side of the road, with just a little buffer of trees and brush, but we found two trees for a highline, and that’s all we needed. We also scoped out an area further up the hill where the maintenance buildings are, but I couldn’t remember if the ranger said we could go up there or not, and we were deterred by several stern No Trespassing signs posted around the place. Didn’t take long to set up, impossible to get a satellite signal again, so we’re out of luck there. Good thing we recorded a bunch of movies last time we had electricity in New Hampshire! Had a nice chat with the hunters, then settled in for the night. Bad news, practically no cell phone signal here at all! Surprised at that, the Verizon map seemed to indicate there was coverage all through here, and being only 60 miles our of NYC, I thought it just might be true.

Sunday, October 7, 2012 - Rest and Planning Day

As predicted, it rained much of the day today, and we started the day with housekeeping and chores, then reading and me working on the computer making plans. Got most everything packed away as we prepare for our departure tomorrow.